DENVER -- The Rockies hit five home runs and were never in Saturday's game at Coors Field. That's the easiest way to explain what's wrong with this team after its fourth consecutive loss, a sobering 11-5 mugging by the Angels.

Only one formula exists for the Rockies to win -- the starting pitching must be ordinary. Not special. Not drop the remote to adjust your fantasy league lineup. Just pedestrian.

That hasn't happened, clearly. The faces change, but the dour expressions have not. The Rockies collected 13 hits Saturday and never sniffed a victory. Their home runs traveled 2,066 feet. Yet no one wants to walk a half-mile in this club's shoes.

Why?

The rotation has not done its job, a list that now includes Jeff Francis. His return makes for a nice narrative given his previous contributions to the franchise.

He never considered waiting for a better offer as a free agent last week.

Francis lives in Denver and admitted: "I would love to help this team win again. I can't imagine anything better in this town."

These Rockies, unfortunately, bare no resemblance to the 2007 and 2009 playoff teams that included Francis.

The 2007 starters posted a 4.58 ERA, a franchise best since broken. In 2009, it sank to 4.10.

The current rotation owns a 6.02 ERA, including a 14.09 mark during the current four-game skid. Only the 1999 starters, in manager Jim Leyland's forgettable, dreadful lone season, finished with a worse mark at 6.19. That team lost 90 games.

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These Rockies are on a similar arc, on pace to lose 95. Such indignity is avoidable with this lineup. But not if the rotation doesn't improve. The Rockies are 8-25 when a starter works fewer than six innings.

"When you score five runs, you at least expect to be in the game if not win," Francis said after the second game this year the Rockies lost after hitting five home runs. "It's our job to give the team a better chance. That's where I failed today. And from what I have heard and seen, that's where this team has fallen short."

The Angels didn't so much clobber Francis as they paper-cut him to death. His first pitch appeared on the scoreboard as a 78 mph fastball. It was a mistake, probably left over as a default setting from a Jamie Moyer outing. But it symbolized a sun-bleached afternoon where little went right. Francis surrendered eight runs on 10 hits, all singles, in 31/3 innings.

Without his 92 mph fastball, a memory since shoulder surgery, Francis relies on changing speeds and precise command. He issued only one walk, but caught too much of the plate.

Manager Jim Tracy refused to evaluate Francis after one outing, saying he would give the left-hander another opportunity before making any judgment.

Still, one conclusion was impossible to avoid.

"The message I have been preaching quite a bit is that we need a competitive effort," Tracy said. "Keep us in a game and give us a chance offensively. What we have seen of late from Christian Friedrich and Alex White, I don't think you can do a whole of complaining about what they've done their last three or four starts. We need some more beyond these kids."

It's unfair to ask Friedrich and White to lead the staff. Neither broke camp with the team. Same goes for Josh Outman, who will finally have 90 pitches at his disposal in his next start as he transitions from a relief role.

The burden falls on Jeremy Guthrie, who has been a huge disappointment since he injured his shoulder in a biking accident in April. And now Francis, who was most recently pitching in Triple-A because the Reds had no spot for him.

Two veterans. One bar set low: Give the Rockies a shot.

"No matter the team, the starter's job is getting innings. I feel like I have done that in my career and last year. Today was a bad one," Francis said. "I hope to make the adjustments and help this team again."

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